More than 300 students walked out of classrooms at one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most elite private schools on Friday afternoon to raise awareness of the sexual assault and harassment young adults face and to encourage the school’s administration to acknowledge and respond to it.
The teens traveled together in a large group from Lick-Wilmerding High School’s campus on San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue to Balboa Park, where they met in groups to discuss how “rape culture” — the effect of normalizing and trivializing sexual violence — is perpetuated in their community. At one point, students were invited to speak, and this brought dozens to the front of the crowd to share their thoughts and experiences. Their words led many in the crowd to tears.
“It’s up to all of us as individuals to step up and change the hookup culture at Lick starting now,” said student Sophie Spokes.
The organizers said in an information packet that the purpose of the walkout was “to raise awareness and hold the LWHS community accountable for their role in perpetuating rape culture and maintaining silence around matters regarding sexual assault and sexual harassment.”
Lick’s assistant head of school, Randy Barnett, said in a statement that a majority of the school’s students participated in the walkout, which was organized by classmates. “We are not aware of any specific incident that has galvanized the student body,” Barnett said in an email statement. “However, the school has a no tolerance policy for sexual violence and it is deeply concerning that there may be unreported incidents of sexual harm.”
Lick-Wilmerding students gathered at San Francisco’s Balboa Park on April 29, 2022, to talk about sexual harassment and assault in the community.
Charles RussoThe walkout at Lick-Wilmerding comes after several large public schools across the region staged similar events in the past year, including Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, Oakland Technical High School, Berkeley High School and Lowell High School. Nearly 1,000 students from schools across San Francisco — public, independent and parochial — joined a protest at City Hall on Dec. 10.
“I think hookup culture is prevalent at all the schools,” Maya Iribarren, a junior who commutes to Lick from the East Bay, said.
Throughout the afternoon, the Lick students repeatedly referred to the “hookup culture” that they say is prevalent at off-campus parties and encourages casual sexual encounters from kissing to sex. Some students worry that these casual sexual encounters don’t allow for emotional connection and can be harmful, especially when consent isn’t given.
“Most people engage in hookup culture voluntarily and the danger is when people feel pressured,” Stokes said. “Because it’s such a norm, consent gets thrown under the rug. Alcohol plays a role but it’s not to blame. It’s not an excuse. A lot of times when alcohol isn’t involved, these situations where someone feels pressured can still happen.”
Hookup culture can encourage some teens to treat people as a “conquest” and count the number of hookups they’ve had and brag about it, the students said. “I remember this guy saying, ‘Guess who I f—ked last night?’ All his friends were dabbing him up,” said Iribarren, who co-founded the on-campus Unity Club, an affinity space for queer women of color.
Iribarren said one reason that hookup culture is prevalent is students don’t have time for committed relationships. “There’s a lot of wealth at our school,” she said. “People have these crazy networks and their parents are putting a lot of pressure on them to succeed and get perfect grades. A lot of students don’t have time for relationships. They have tests, they have extracurriculars. A lot of times affluent, high-achieving students are encouraged to not get into relationships.”
Founded in 1895, Lick-Wilmerding serves about 550 students in grades 9 through 12. Full tuition costs $52,700 per year, though 35% of students enrolled qualify for reduced tuition. Lick says it’s “more selective than any other Bay Area independent high school” and receives up to 1,000 applications annually for fewer than 150 freshman spots.
Lick-Wilmerding students Olivia Castillo, left, and George Duran led a walkout to raise awareness of sexual harassment and assault on April 29, 2022.
Charles RussoGeorge Duran and Olivia Castillo, both juniors at Lick, got the idea for the walkout earlier this year and said they started by reaching out to student leaders of on-campus groups such as the Women’s Safety club.
“We noticed the SOTA walkout and we were inspired by that,” Duran said.
Duran said he was moved to help organize the walkout after an incident at a party where an intoxicated friend — “used to be friend,” he said — made multiple unwanted sexual advances at girls.
He and Castillo said their community wants more education on campus around consent, how to report sexual harassment and assault and how to support friends. They said the student community plans to present potential action steps for the administration, including hiring an onsite counselor specializing in sexual assault and harassment, providing coaches and teachers with training and hosting workshops and speakers on consent and healthy relationships.
Sexual assault among teenagers is a widespread problem, and female teens ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, RAINN, a national anti-sexual assault organization, said. While young people are experiencing sexual assault at a high rate, a survey by the Harvard Graduate School of Education found that the “majority of parents and educators aren’t discussing with young people basic issues related to consent.”
Barnett said the school actively educates students about consent and healthy relationships and has clear guidelines defining harassment and consequences for those who harm a community member.
Many students who talked to SFGATE said that in health class, students spend more time doing yoga and scaling a rock climbing wall than having constructive, relatable conversations about consent. They said the guidelines on how to report sexual assault included in a student handbook are written in legalese and difficult to understand.
“It’s not worded for students,” Duran said. “I doubt anybody has read it.”
Survivors of sexual assault can find resources and references from RAINN including its national hotline, which routes callers to their nearest sexual assault service provider: (800) 656-HOPE.
